Vladimir Putin Breaks His Silence on Ukraine Standoff

Russia might not have used force in Ukraine yet… but the option is not yet off the table.

On Tuesday, Vladimir Putin broke his silence for the first time about the tense geopolitical standoff currently unfolding in Ukraine in a press conference in Moscow, and dismissed accusations that Russia had invaded Crimea. He maintained that Russia has no plans to go to war against Ukraine.

But Putin added that military action is still a possibility for Russia to protect Ukrainians from themselves, and from the dangerous “radicals” roaming Kiev.

Vladimir Putin speaks about Ukraine in a press conference Tuesday.

This is a wildly different version of the tense situation that other media sources have been reporting in the past several days. Many western governments, and NATO, have widely condemned the actions taken by Russia in the past several days as a forceful invasion and occupation of sovereign Ukrainian territory.

But Russia clearly does not see it this way. Putin denied that Russia sent over 6,000 troops into Crimea in an “invasion” and that the unmarked military personnel patroling the region are merely Crimean security forces that were formed for the purposes of self-defense from pro-Ukrainian extremists attempting to harm Russians.

Unidentified military personnel roaming the Crimean capital of Simferopol

Putin also described the toppling of former President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych as “an unconstitutional coup and armed seizure of power,” promulgated by radicals, fascists and “neo-nationalists.”

In a move apparently meant to ease the tensions on the border, Putin also ordered all Russian troops that were carrying out military drills near the border with Ukraine back to base on Tuesday.

However, this comes at the same times as reports that Russian military personnel fired “warning shots” at Ukrainian troops at Crimea's Belbek airbase, also on Tuesday.

US Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Kiev on Tuesday to demonstrate US support for the government in Kiev, and offer a $1 billion aid package to the fragile Ukrainian economy.

The US has threatened to impose economic sanctions and isolation against Russia if Putin does not change course, a move that Putin called “counter-productive and harmful.”

Along with other members of the G-7, the US threatened yesterday that they would boycott the preliminary G-8 talks in Moscow if Russia continued provocative military actions.